State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Lowers Stock Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. $HCA

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D has reduced its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. by 11.4%, selling 8,164 shares and holding 63,422 shares valued at approximately $21.9 million.
• HCA Healthcare reported a strong earnings result for the most recent quarter, with an EPS of $6.84 surpassing analyst expectations, and a revenue of $18.61 billion, a 6.4% increase year-over-year.
• Recent analyst ratings show mixed sentiment with Wolfe Research downgrading HCA from "outperform" to "peer perform," while the consensus rating is a "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $398.58.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 11.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,422 shares of the company's stock after selling 8,164 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $21,915,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,928,452 shares of the company's stock worth $878,975,000 after acquiring an additional 19,121 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,017,971 shares of the company's stock worth $605,694,000 after acquiring an additional 223,248 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,865,771 shares of the company's stock worth $560,011,000 after purchasing an additional 81,105 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 49.1% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,781,459 shares of the company's stock worth $615,583,000 after purchasing an additional 587,036 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 40,527.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,703,907 shares of the company's stock worth $5,887,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,699,713 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on HCA. Bank of America downgraded HCA Healthcare from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $394.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Truist Financial upped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $423.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $410.00 to $400.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded HCA Healthcare from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $398.58.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

NYSE:HCA traded down $0.59 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $409.59. 422,581 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,566,439. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $372.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $352.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1 year low of $289.98 and a 1 year high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported $6.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.20 by $0.64. The firm had revenue of $18.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.49 billion. HCA Healthcare had a negative return on equity of 7,363.11% and a net margin of 8.21%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.50 EPS. HCA Healthcare has set its FY 2025 guidance at 25.500-27.000 EPS. Analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.11%.

HCA Healthcare Company Profile

HCA Healthcare, Inc, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates hospitals and related healthcare entities in the United States. It operates general and acute care hospitals that offers medical and surgical services, including inpatient care, intensive care, cardiac care, diagnostic, and emergency services; and outpatient services, such as outpatient surgery, laboratory, radiology, respiratory therapy, cardiology, and physical therapy.